Chelsea midfielder John Obi Mikel has been forced to close his Twitter account after he received racist abuse following his side’s 2-2 draw against Juventus.

John Obi Mikel only joined Twitter over the summer (Picture: AFP/Getty Images)

The Nigerian international, who only joined the social networking site in the summer, took to the platform to apologise to Blues fans after his error led to Juventus’s late equaliser in their Champions League clash at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday night.

But less than 24 hours after the game, the midfielder closed his ‘Mikel12Official’ account, while Chelsea confirmed they had contacted the police over racist comments aimed at the player.

A club statement said: ‘We’ve been made aware of racist tweets targeted at Mikel which are totally unacceptable, disgusting and abhorrent.

‘We’ve informed the police and support taking the strongest possible action.’

The reigning European champions had been 2-0 up after a brace from Oscar, but Arturo Vidal halved the deficit before Mikel’s misplaced pass allowed Fabio Quagilarella to equalise on 80 minutes.

The 25-year-old tweeted after the game: ‘If I want to make up an excuse, I can. But, for me, I gave the ball away. I put my hands up, we move on. I’m sorry about the mistake, but there are no excuses.’

The news comes just two months after Mikel’s Chelsea teammate Ashley Cole allegedly received racist abuse on Twitter after missing a penalty for England in the shoot-out against Italy at Euro 2012, as Roy Hodgson’s side were eliminated from the tournament.